Ka-Zar The Great
John and Constance Rand, along with their three-year-old son David, are flying to Cairo, when their aircraft crashed into a Belgian Congo jungle. Though all three survived the crash, Constance shortly died of her wounds. John decided to look after and dedicate his life to his son, teaching him how to survive in the wild. Permanently deluded after being hit by a falling tree, he made the jungle their home. David grew up, strong and healthy, in harmony with the jungle and the creatures dwelling inside it, even saving Zar the lion from a cruel death, trapped in quicksand. One day, they both encountered a group of natives led by a fat white man. John tried to make them leave the sacred jungle before they profane it. The white man, Paul DeKraft, was a vicious criminal on a treasure hunt and would not so easily be convinced to turn back. So John Rand was shot in his sleep, and his son would have met the same fate if not for Zar. The lion, remembering the young man who saved his life, scared the whole gang away. The feline later took the boy into his lair, accepting him as brother. He would now be called Ka-Zar, brother of Zar, and would earn the respect of all the jungle creatures. Ka-Zar battles Bardak to get back DeKraft's mirror. Bardak kidnaps one of Sha's new cubs and Ka-Zar challenges him to the death. Game hunter Steve Hardy has come to a section of the Belgian Congo to try and find animals to capture for a zoo. After setting up camp he soon captures a number of animals including Tuta, the elephant. That night, Trajah leader of the elephants seeks out Ka-Zar to save the captured elephant. Going to investigate the situation, Ka-Zar arrives at the camp wondering if the man responsible is Paul de Kraft the man who killed his father. It turns out it is not, and that night, Ka-Zar sneaks into the camp and sets all the animals free. When he is spotted by one of the natives, he easily knocks him out and ties him up to a tree. The next morning, when Hardy wakes up he is shocked to find his animals missing and when he questions the native, the native believes he was attacked by Anhwama, the jungle god. While Hardy dismisses this as nonsense his men are all shaken by this claim. Not willing to leave empty handed, Steve orders the men to go out on a hunting party. Deep in the jungle they come across a Rhino and it's child and orders one of his men to shoot the mother so that they can capture the young Rhino. Before the gunman could shoot, he is struck in the back by an arrow fired by Ka-Zar. This frightens the men even more and they refuse to help any further, less they evoke the wraith of Anhwama. They pack up and leave, forcing Steve Hardy to follow them. Later, Ka-Zar jumps into a nearby lake for a cooling swim when he is attacked by N'Jaga, the leopard his father wounded years ago. N'Jaga seeks to get revenge and pushes the young Ka-Zar deep into the water until the big cat is forced to come up for air. Satisfied that it has killed Ka-Zar the leopard leaves the scene. However, Ka-Zar survives and reminds himself to never be caught without his knife. As he returns home he is blissfully unaware of the fact that his old foe Paul de Kraft is planning a trip out to the congo. Years after he murdered John Rand, Paul de Kraft makes a return expedition to the Congo to collect the riches of a emerald rich river bed near the domain of Ka-Zar. He brings along with him Ed Kivlin, who helped fund money on the expedition. Both men are crooked, and plot to betray each other to reap the benefits. Knowing that their native guides far a supposed "white jungle god" of the Congo area, they do not tell the guides where they are going until it is too late. When the guides revolt, De Kraft uses violence to force them to do his bidding. Ultimately, they reach the river where they begin harvesting the gems. Both men begin plotting against one another, Kivlin hoping to turn the increasingly frightened natives against De Kraft. The humans presences does not go unnoticed and soon Ka-Zar learns of their arrival from the many animals in the area -- particularly Chaka the ape who is angry that they murdered one of his people. Investigating the situation, the jungle man sends his first warning to those in the camp by firing an arrow at one of the natives, killing him. When the natives believe it to be their jungle god, De Kraft once more uses violence and threats to force them to do his bidding. Ka-Zar recognizes De Kraft as the "Fat Face" who murdered his father and vows to get revenge. When the other animals in the jungle gather seeking to attack the camp en masse, Ka-Zar with the support of Zar, Sha, and Trajah, convinces them to stay back and let him handle it. N'Jaga is the only one who does not fully trust Ka-Zar as he is also a human. Ka-Zar nears the camp once more, scaring the natives into fleeing by letting out a lions roar. This sudden display of cowardice angers De Kraft even more. Later when Kivlin heads up river to collect more emeralds for himself, he spots Zar and is about to shoot him when he is confronted by Ka-Zar. The savage warns Kivlin that he and the natives are to leave, sending the man running back to camp in a fright. Ed Kivlin has been confronted by Ka-Zar who warns him to leave the jungle or be killed. Instead, Kivlin returns and reports his encounter with the "white jungle god" to Paul de Kraft. When the commotion causes the natives to act restless, Kraft whips them back into submission and warns Kivlin to be quiet less the natives turn against them. Paul then realizes the "white jungle god" must be none other than the boy of John Rand, the man he killed years earlier and decides to investigate. Going into the jungle, he finds the ruins of the Rand's makeshift home plus the graves of Ka-Zar's parents with fresh flowers confirming his suspicions. Paul de Kraft decides to catch Ka-Zar alive in order to put an end to the "jungle god nonsense" once and for all. Meanwhile, Ka-Zar has sneaked into the camp and destroys all of the firearms inside the tents before fleeing into the jungle again. When de Kraft returns he blames Kivlin for doing so admitting that he intended on killing him to obtain all the emeralds for himself and shoots him dead. Witnessing this, Ka-Zar finds this in good fortune as it will help him defeat "Fat Face" once and for all. After Kivlin is buried Ka-Zar swings through the jungle and is challenged by N'Jaga. Ka-Zar tells him they will fight another day, but Zar warns him that N'Jaga is a cunning foe and prone to treachery. Sneaking back into the camp Ka-Zar is caught at gun point by de Kraft, who decides to torture the jungle man before killing him. Showing the natives that he has captured the "white jungle god" he orders the natives to tie him up and stab him with spears and knives. However, while they are doing so, Ka-Zar refuses to cry out in pain. Soon, the monkey named Nono comes to Ka-Zar's rescue, stealing the jungle man's knife and cutting his bonds. Free and armed with his weapon, he kills Aorangi the leader of the natives sending them all fleeing into the jungle. Shocked that his enemy is free, Paul attempts to shoot Ka-Zar down, however the hero manages to get close enough to his old foe and knock him down. With his enemy full at his mercy, Ka-Zar brings down his knife, swiftly killing De Kraft and avenging the death of his father. With this victory, Ka-Zar lets out a might lions roar. A fatally wounded guide is stumbling through the Belgian Congo when he is spotted by N'Jaga the Jaguar. Before the big cat can kill the wounded man, Ka-Zar steps in and saves him, sending the cat into retreat. The man, blinded, finds it hard to believe that he has been rescued by Ka-Zar -- a man he believed was nothing more than local superstition. However when Ka-Zar proves who he is, the guide tells him that he led a man named Fenton into the jungle. When he learned that Fenton was going to poach elephant hurts to illegally harvest their ivory tusks Fenton tried to kill him. With his dying breath, the guide asks Ka-Zar to stop Fenton before he wipes out a nearby herd. Calling his animal friends, Ka-Zar summons Zar the lion, Trajah the elephant and Nono the monkey to his side and they begin tracking down Fenton and his hunting party. They find Fenton, a cruel man who beats his native guides whipping them into submission after they attempt to refuse to hunt the elephants -- animals they find sacred. Ka-Zar stops the beating by tossing a rock at the man alerting the natives of his presence. Fenton refuses to believe that here is a "jungle god" responsible for throwing the rock. Later, Ka-Zar jumps one of the natives and learns that they are being forced into hunting the elephants. Ka-Zar believes the native and orders him to instruct his friends on what to do. While the natives lead Fenton toward the elephants, Ka-Zar and Trajah convince them to charge. When the natives abandon Fenton he panics and tries to flee, only to be trampled to death. Such is the fate of all those who seek to defile Ka-Zar's land. Ka-Zar takes interest in a plane that suddenly lands on the river bordering his domain in the Belgian, Congo. Weary of the white men inside, he decides to watch to see if they are friend or foe. From the plane come Professor Rice and his daughter Mara and their pilot. With only a month worth of supplies, the Professor is insistent that their pilot leave as soon as possible so that they can last the entire month he wants to spend searching for rare plants. Unfortunately for the Rice's, their pilot is really wanted criminal "Red" Skeleton who is wanted in two countries. When Red attempts to romance Mara it leads to an altercation where Red reveals his true identity and demands that the Professor sign a contract allowing Red to extort him for one hundred thousand dollars and the right to marry Mara or he threatens to leave them behind. As he is blackmailing the Rice's, Ka-Zar goes to Zar for aid and they rush back to the camp just as Professor Rice tries to lunge at Red. Red shoots the old man dead, and Mara flees into the jungle with Red following after her. Ka-Zar sends Zar to track the girl while he inspects the airplane. Inside, he comes across a lighter and accidentally sets some oil rags on fire causing the plane to explode into flame, drawing both Red and Mara back to the river. Blaming Mara for destroying their only means of escape he is about to shoot the girl so that he can use her rations to escape the jungle on foot when Ka-Zar attacks him. Red attempts to shoot the jungle man, but misses and Ka-Zar slays him. Introduced to Ka-Zar, the thankful girl wants to stay in the jungle with him, but he refuses to allow her as he feels it is too dangerous, however the girl is insistent. When Trajah arrives and alerts Ka-Zar of a caravan passing through nearby, he loads the girl on the elephants back and begins to ride off to meet it even though the girl continues to try and convince him to stay. When Barrie Richards inherits his fathers gold mine, he hires engineer Lester Drake to help him mine it. When Lester suggest using slaves to do the job, Richards refuses finding the practice deplorable. However, when Richards falls through a game trap and breaks his ankle, Drake kills him and forges documents to make it look like Richards sold him the mine. With the aid of the slave trading chief Abwama, Lester gets as population of slave workers from other tribes to train elephants to help mine the gold. One of the tribe leaders seeks out the help of Ka-Zar who attempts to free the slaves but falls into the same trap Richards did. Captured, Ka-Zar is left to be trampled to death in the elephant pen, however he convinces the elephants to help him. Ordering them to stampede the hut where Lester and Abwama were resting the two men are trampled to death. In the aftermath, Ka-Zar frees the slaves and returns to his home. Returning to his home, Ka-Zar overhears the scream of a girl and saves her from the claws of N'Jaga the leopard who he sends fleeing into the jungle. He learns that the girl is Rita Grey, the daughter of an explorer who got lost in the jungle after a ride on a raft sent her away from her fathers camp. After hearing her tale, Ka-Zar agrees to help her find her way back home. Along the way they are attacked by a tribe of evil pygmies known as the Wabis. Sending Zar to locate Trajah the elephant, Ka-Zar takes the girl up the side of a mountain where he holds off the Wabis until Trajah arrives and sends them all fleeing into the jungle. In the aftermath of the battle, Ka-Zar and Rita ride Trajah back to her fathers camp where father and daughter are reunited. Rita's father offers Ka-Zar the chance to return to their outpost with them, but he declines telling them that his place is in the jungle. Two detectives of the Scotland Yard have tracked down wanted murderer "London" Jack, and arrest him. Taking him back to London by airplane, their plane experiences trouble and is forced to land in the Belgian Congo. There, Jack -- not wishing to face execution after his trail -- would wrest free one of the detectives guns and ties them up after the pilot has repaired the plane. Knowing how to fly, he hops in the plane, hoping to escape. This entire scene is witnessed by Ka-Zar, who sends Zar the lion to get Nono the monkey to free the tied up Scotland Yard detectives while he rushes off to stop Jack. Jumping on board the plane, Ka-Zar smashes his way into the craft and fights London Jack into submission, forcing him to land the plane. By the time they land, Nono has used Ka-Zar's knife to free the tied up men and they take London Jack back into custody. When they ask Ka-Zar to accompany them back to civilization, Ka-Zar declines, telling them that the jungle is his home. Jan VanGelder, commissioner in charge of the Belgian Congo is shocked when ruthless game hunter Rajah Sarput has arrived in his office to inform him that he has purchased a track of land for the purposes of game hunting. VanGelder finds the paperwork in order, but warns Sarput not to hunt outside of the land that he owns. Meanwhile, in his explorations of the western jungle, Ka-Zar would learn from a native of Rajah's game hunting and how her would also slay natives that he came across as well. Ka-Zar would become determined to stop Sarput and would hunt for him along with Zar and Trajah. The trio would come across Sarput as he is hunting a herd of elephants. Ordering the elephants to change direction, Ka-Zar then tries to stop the Rajah, but is shot and sent falling off a small cliff. Angered that his "brother" has been injured, Zar attempts to attack Sarput and is shot as well. Finding that that mighty lion is still alive, Sarput orders his men to cage it, as he intends to let it heal so that he can hunt it at a later time. Meanwhile, Trajah finds Ka-Zar and brings him to a nearby lake to recover. Later, an American hunter comes to Sarput and is impressed by the size of Zar and offers to purchase the large cat on behalf on an American zoo. When Sarput refuses to do so, the hunter hires some natives to help him steal the beast in the night. He is successful angering Sarput to the point of whipping his slaves, and ordering them to bring the creature back. However, they are too late as the animal has been loaded aboard a cruise ship headed back to America. While it travels onward, nobody is aware that Ka-Zar has hitched a ride aboard the ship as well, determined to save his friend from his captors. Ka-Zar has sneaked aboard a vessel taking Zar to America to be put in a zoo. He lets Zar know that he is aboard the ship by letting out a lion call, making the crew believe that Zar has escaped. Finding Zar's pen, Ka-Zar attacks a man tormenting his "brother" and then tells Zar that he will try and free him. Ka-Zar beings lurking around the ship but is eventually caught by Bradley who holds him at gun point and has the jungle man shackled, believing that Ka-Zar can earn him a fortune on display. When the ship arrives in America, Ka-Zar breaks free from his bonds and also frees Zar. The two jump ship and try to swim to shore. When a boat full of Bradley's men tries to stop him, he capsizes the boat. Swimming to shore, he fights off a police officer and flees into the city. Hearing the cries of zoo animals, Ka-Zar rushes to the zoo and tries to free the animals, however he surrenders when a police officer arrives out of fear Zar will be shot. Hearing the radio reports about Ka-Zar being loose in the city, Ruth Wilson remembers how Ka-Zar once saved her a year ago and rushes off to his aid. Confronted by the police at the zoo, Ka-Zar surrenders so that they do not shoot Zar. Ka-Zar tells his "brother" to allow them to lock him up in the zoo, promising the lion that he will free him soon. Interrogated by the police, Ka-Zar is then locked up in a jail cell. There, he tricks an officer to get close enough to his cell to grab his gun and escape. Hearing about animals that are keep at a nearby circus, Ka-Zar demands that the officer drive him there. In the car, the officer radios for help, and Ka-Zar, not realizing what the officer had done is soon surrounded by police. Just then, Ruth Wilson arrives at police headquarters demanding to see Ka-Zar, explaining that she can talk sense into him. Taken to the stand-off, Ruth manages to convince Ka-Zar to stand down and talks the police into putting Ka-Zar into the custody of her father. At the Wilson home, the Wilsons learn of Ka-Zar's plight, and Dr. Wilson agrees to help Ka-Zar and Zar return to Africa. In the meanwhile, he gets Ka-Zar fitted for clothing and gets him a haircut, even though the jungle man finds civilizations customs uncomfortable. Becoming restless to get back home, Ka-Zar sneaks out into the night and returns to the zoo where Zar has been kept caged in order to free his "brother". As Ka-Zar begins to bend the bars to free his friend, the police arrive on the scene with orders to shoot to kill. Ka-Zar manages to break his "brother" Zar out of the zoo before the police can shoot him dead. Sneaking back to the Wilson home, Ka-Zar hides until the police has come and gone. Revealing that he has rescued Zar to his friends, they agree to try and get him back to Africa. Learning of a ship that is scheduled to leave port for the night, the Wilson's drive the jungle man and his lion companion to the docks where they sneak aboard the ship. Discovered when out at sea, Ka-Zar stop the sailors from shooting Zar. Ka-Zar learns that he is aboard a British ship heading toward the war in Europe, and the captain agrees to drop Ka-Zar and Zar in Africa. However, their ride is cut short when a German U-Boat attacks, sinking the ship. Before it completely sinks, Ka-Zar and Zar jump into the water. As they attempt to flee the scene they are caught in the spotlight of the attacking sub. Lost at sea, Ka-Zar and Zar are spotted and picked up by a Nazi U-Boat. The Germans on board then attempt to kill Zar but Ka-Zar gets in the way. Deciding not to shoot the lion, the captain of the ship decides to instead leave Ka-Zar and his "brother" on a life boat at sea to stare to death. As they are doing this, the U-Boat is attacked by a British destroyer and sunk. Ka-Zar and Zar are taken aboard the ship and the Captain agrees to have one of his pilots fly him back to his home in the Belgian Congo. En route by air, Ka-Zar's plane would be attacked by Italian fighter planes, however the British pilot would be able to destroy them all without being shot down. However, turbulent weather causes the plane to crack up forcing them to abandon ship. With specially prepared parachutes for himself and Zar, Ka-Zar would manage to get them safely on the ground, finally getting them home after their adventures in America. Category:Comic